Mineral-containing acidic protein drink

Abstract

It is intended to provide a food or a drink with a favorable flavor which has an acidic nature, contains protein and minerals, and has been stabilized in dispersion without showing any protein aggregation or the like even in the absence of a stabilizer. It is also intended to provide such an acidic protein food or drink which shows no protein aggregation even in the case of using not only minerals hardly soluble in aqueous media but also highly soluble minerals. By using an acid-soluble soybean protein, it is possible to provide an acidic mineral-containing food or drink which has a high stability without resort to a stabilizer as an essential component. Owing to the acidic nature, moreover, a product having a refreshing flavor, which is never achieved by neutral foods or drinks, can be prepared.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of Invention [0002] This invention provides an acidic food or drink containing protein and minerals, with a good nutritive value but no aggregation. [0003] 2. Description of Related Art [0004] In recent years, the concern on protein intake has increased not only from athletes but also from the elders and healthy persons. Among various proteins, the soybean protein is known for its nutritive and physiological effects, so that foods and drinks containing soybean protein as protein sources are desired in consumers' consideration for health. In these years, the consumption of soybean milk is significantly increased, demonstrating great expectation on soybean from the consumers. However, the traditional soybean processed food and drinks, such as bean curd, sandwiched bean curd and fried bean curd, are near neutral, and the variation in taste is prone to be little. Among the soybean milks, it is also the neutral one that is leading. Although the...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] According to this invention, an acidic protein food or drink containing minerals to have a high nutritive value and having a good taste can be provided. Moreover, it is not necessary to add a stabilizer or perform homogenization using a high-pressure homogenizer or the like, since protein aggregation will not take place even in the presence of water-soluble minerals. Additionally, a food or drink that is smooth as being swallowed and has a good taste can be obtained in the absence of a stabilizer. Moreover, precipitation due to long-term conservation, which is particularly a problem for drinks, can also be inhibited. Hence, the protein foods and drinks currently led by those of neutral taste like soybean milk can have a variety of tastes, thus enriching the foodlife.

Problems solved by technology

However, the traditional soybean processed food and drinks, such as bean curd, sandwiched bean curd and fried bean curd, are near neutral, and the variation in taste is prone to be little.

In general, various problems as described below will take place when an acidic soybean protein food or drink is being manufactured.

However, precipitation will still take place and the taste will become very harsh over time, while addition of a large amount of stabilizer makes the taste bad.

Furthermore, when minerals are added for purposes like enhancing the nutrition, aggregation is induced more easily, thus the usable materials are limited to insoluble minerals to avoid aggregation.

Although the Patent also discloses a manufacturing process of an acidic protein drinks in which an acidulant is added to make a pH value below 4.5 for sufficient sterilization and then homogenization is performed again, the process is complicated, while such complicated treatments still cannot prevent precipitation.

Additionally, a large amount of acidulant is needed for the buffer capacity of protein, resulting in overly strong sourness, so that the protein concentration in the drink has to be limited to approximately 6 wt % to avoid the problem.

Although the aggregation and precipitation in the drink made from the process are less, the process is complicated and the taste of the drink is harsh due to the use of the stabilizer.